Month: April 2014

I attended a talk yesterday organised by QUT Science and Engineering featuring Nobel Laureate cosmologist Brian Schmidt talking about the big bang or “gnab gib” (big bang spelled backwards), i.e. expansion and end of the universe.

What a great communicator Brian Schmidt is! He gave really good advice for early career scientists. He reckons research is the best job and everything else is slightly less interesting. Professor Schmidt was born in the US, is based at ANU. I think he says in his talk that he was only 27 when he took on the role of managing the international project that led to the Nobel Prize (yes, I hate him too).

BionicKangaroo – energy-efficient jump kinematics based on a natural model

Festo has reproduced the unique way a kangaroo moves. The mechanical can recover the energy it spent jumping, store it and efficiently use it for the next jump. Almost like the real thing. Click here for full article – and great short video (watch right through).